Started the long process of a complete overhaul of my stock 460. The plan is get everything ready for the day the engine gets pulled. I'll do that in my neighbors fully featured 6 gar garage with everything a gear head could dream of! Got quite a bit done in 2 hours today in my driveway. Pulled the fan, radiator, A/C, power steering and alternator off. Will continue next Saturday with all the hoses, wires and carb. Engine pull day should be 2 hours and it's out.
Right now the plan is to bring it to a guy that's been building engines since '69. He has a complete machine shop in his building - crank/cam grinding, magna flux, you name it, he has it. He does all the work himself and comes highly recommended. I've talked to him and he's going completely stock with good forged pistons and probably a cam that's not totally stock. Engine will be completely stock when finished.
Oh how I wish I could take a month off work and be there with him rebuilding my engine every step of the way! I did 5 V-8's back in the early 70's in auto mechanics in high school. I love doing the exacting work of engine rebuilding.
Here's the first installment of MANY pics! Enjoy!
Yes, I know the bottom radiator hose wasn't on right - will make sure it goes back on correctly!
Last edited by 2sasilverbullet on Sun May 18, 2014 10:30 pm, edited 6 times in total.
Recommend doing some bowl aka pocket porting work on the heads. It made a noticeable difference on my '69. There is a EGR lump in the exhaust port, which can't totally removed, but it can be blended in. On the intake side, spend some time reducing the guide boss thickness. Also added a undercut to the stock valves that blends into the valve seat.
If you are going to change the cam/deck the block/surface the heads, use different head gasket thickness or even if you do a valve job, your going to have to think about changing the valve gear so that it's adjustable. At least that's the way the '69's are, meaning that the valve gear is non-adjustable.
As for as pistons go, if you are not going to deck the block, strive to maintain the original piston compression height and forged pistons are really not needed, unless you plan on maintaining the factory compression ratio for model year 1970, (10.5:1) and you're concerned about pre-ignition. Most replacement pistons have a comp height of 1.750-1.760 while the original pistons have 1.770. The concern here is to try and maintain the original piston deck clearance. Too much deck clearance is not good in terms of pre-ignition control. Speaking of preventing pre-ignition, another good thing to do or have done is to polish the combustion chambers on the exhaust side, to prevent hot spots.
blkmk69 wrote:Recommend doing some bowl aka pocket porting work on the heads. It made a noticeable difference on my '69. There is a EGR lump in the exhaust port, which can't totally removed, but it can be blended in. On the intake side, spend some time reducing the guide boss thickness. Also added a undercut to the stock valves that blends into the valve seat.
If you are going to change the cam/deck the block/surface the heads, use different head gasket thickness or even if you do a valve job, your going to have to think about changing the valve gear so that it's adjustable. At least that's the way the '69's are, meaning that the valve gear is non-adjustable.
As for as pistons go, if you are not going to deck the block, strive to maintain the original piston compression height and forged pistons are really not needed, unless you plan on maintaining the factory compression ratio for model year 1970, (10.5:1) and you're concerned about pre-ignition. Most replacement pistons have a comp height of 1.750-1.760 while the original pistons have 1.770. The concern here is to try and maintain the original piston deck clearance. Too much deck clearance is not good in terms of pre-ignition control. Speaking of preventing pre-ignition, another good thing to do or have done is to polish the combustion chambers on the exhaust side, to prevent hot spots.
Good pointers - will pass them along to the guy that will be doing the engine work, thanks!
Hey fellow S. Texan. I finally had some time over winter break to get my 63 Continental fired up. First time running since I had it going on about 2 years now. Took me replacing the carb with a borrowed Edelbrock 1406 new wires and plugs and finally gave it up to a pertronix instead of points. Cranked it a long time with a booster battery and finally pulled foul gas from the tank. Gave up on that for now and rigged a fuel line from an old outboard gas tank and new gas. Got the old gas flushed out and now she's running fairly well but a lot of rough spots when I give her the throttle. Once it was running I found my brakes are working and surprised to find power steering seems fine. Waterpump must be working because its not getting hot. A lot of electrics need help but I do have headlights, tailights and brakelights but so far no flashers. So I want to take it for a run and see what I really got going here. But I got some pretty scary oil leaks. It doesn't seem to be burning any or much. No smoke to speak of just a few puffs when its really cold. I think timing needs some help. My problem is I am clueless about where the leaking is coming from. There's so much oil all over the bottom of the motor looking doesn't help much. A small amount seems to drip from the drain plug. I'm guessing most of it is rear seal and possibly oil pan. Top of the motor seems pretty tight and dry. Anywho, I''m afraid to take it out on the road and open it up not knowing what the leaking is from. Now that its going pretty good I have some hope for this car. I do upholstery work as part of my business so I can do the interior top notch. I have buds who will trade body craft for upholstery work. But my mechanical ability as far as motors goes is zilch. I see you are getting your motor redone. Do you think that guy doing yours could figure out my oil leaking issues and fix those? I don't mind paying someone to do it right but I am afraid of all these little independent mechanics running out of 1 stall shops or in driveways around town. And dealers don't really want to have anything to do with an old car. So basically I'm looking for help finding somebody who is honest and can go over this thing to find all the leaks and stop them. In the meantime do you think I could dare take it out and take it up to speed? Tires and wheels are borrowed off a Chevy truck as mine are dry rotted but the ones on there are ok. Any ideas for somebody that wont freak out looking at a 50 year old V8?
PS I no longer live in AZ. Just don't remember how to change my location yet.
Howdy! Yeah another one in the area! Where in the area do you live? I live just north of San Antonio in Bulverde.
ALincolnpoop wrote:...So basically I'm looking for help finding somebody who is honest and can go over this thing to find all the leaks and stop them. In the meantime do you think I could dare take it out and take it up to speed?
Yes, take it up to speed. Oil leaks aren't going to stop that!
ALincolnpoop wrote:...Tires and wheels are borrowed off a Chevy truck as mine are dry rotted but the ones on there are ok. Any ideas for somebody that wont freak out looking at a 50 year old V8? Go Spurs
I've had a lot of work done to my 70 MK III by Certified Auto in San Antonio. They're on San Pedro right next to the Carlisle Auto Air. Ask for Tony and tell him Michael Sorbera sent you. They do a lot of work there on old cars. Tony doesn't shy away from them, he embraces them and fixes them for a reasonable fee! I had a oil leak I couldn't figure out. Tony steam cleaned the engine and then put a little leak detector (won't harm the oil) in, drove it for a while, then put it on the lift and used a special light and found the leak - it was the intake manifold. (I thought it was the oil pan or rear main seal) I had him remove/replace it and now no more leaks!
Certified Auto
108 Nova Mae Dr, San Antonio, TX 78216
(210) 342-2222
If you ever want to bring your car over to my house - pm me and I'll give you my cell number.
Maybe you should ask this guy for a sales commission . I am going down to see him sometime this week myself to find out how we can handle the logistics of my 64's leaks and repairs. I've talked to you about before. I'm going to have him go ahead and change the timing sprockets and chain while in there. Might even go for water pump and oil pump while it's apart.
I wonder how he will deal with this scenario? He does his thing to identify the source of the leaks. I assume we have to jack the engine up to change the oil pan gasket. And we pull the front cover to change the timing chain and gear. Now it's time to order parts because we now know what we need. Does he have room to keep my car inside and safe while I am waiting on parts like getting water pump rebuilt etc? I would hate to see my car sit outside anywhere along San Pedro overnight. Or am I gonna have to have transported home while waiting on parts?
How come you aren't using him for your engine rebuild? Just curious. And yeah, if you really want some pics of your build, I wouldn't mind stopping in now and then. Just let me know where your builder is located and let him know it's ok with you so he doesn't run me off
I'm sending you a PM.
2018 Lincoln Continental
1964 Lincoln Continental Sedan
1948 Mercury Town Sedan,
1959 Mercury Montclair
Chad Gasket wrote:Maybe you should ask this guy for a sales commission . ...
I always like to tell folks about honest repairmen, they're hard to find!
Chad Gasket wrote:...How come you aren't using him for your engine rebuild? Just curious...
Main reason is because of all the work I want to do in the engine bay and on the accessories/brackets. It's labor intensive and would cost a lot. Plus the engine shop Certified Auto uses is just a normal place and I wanted my engine rebuilt by a old-school guru, not someone making minimum wage and is right out of high school. The engine rebuild he estimates will be around $4K. I'm having the engine rebuilt buy the owner, Ronnie Groff. He's been building engines since '69. He has a complete machine shop, doesn't have to have anything done off site. His address is: 1433 Bandera Rd, San Antonio, TX 78228 (210) 433-0627. If you call him tell him I sent you. He's real personable, if you stop by his shop he'll show you around and talk your ear off.
If you run across any parts that you feel can and should be identified in an authenticity manual, please make sure to snap a photo for us. When posting it, make a separate thread (for each unique part) under the Mark III Authenticity manual sub-forum. Thanks!
-Allan
'54 Lincoln Capri Sport Coupe, '56 Continental Mark II, '61 Lincoln Continental Convertible,
'62 Lincoln Continental Sedan, '70 Lincoln Mark III, '72 Lincoln Mark IV, '17 Lincoln MKC
Chad Gasket wrote:Maybe you should ask this guy for a sales commission . ...
I always like to tell folks about honest repairmen, they're hard to find!
Chad Gasket wrote:...How come you aren't using him for your engine rebuild? Just curious...
Main reason is because of all the work I want to do in the engine bay and on the accessories/brackets. It's labor intensive and would cost a lot. Plus the engine shop Certified Auto uses is just a normal place and I wanted my engine rebuilt by a old-school guru, not someone making minimum wage and is right out of high school. The engine rebuild he estimates will be around $4K. I'm having the engine rebuilt buy the owner, Ronnie Groff. He's been building engines since '69. He has a complete machine shop, doesn't have to have anything done off site. His address is: 1433 Bandera Rd, San Antonio, TX 78228 (210) 433-0627. If you call him tell him I sent you. He's real personable, if you stop by his shop he'll show you around and talk your ear off.
Wonder if he would be a better choice to do my engine work than the other guy you mentioned - for the same reason?
2018 Lincoln Continental
1964 Lincoln Continental Sedan
1948 Mercury Town Sedan,
1959 Mercury Montclair
If you run across any parts that you feel can and should be identified in an authenticity manual, please make sure to snap a photo for us. When posting it, make a separate thread (for each unique part) under the Mark III Authenticity manual sub-forum. Thanks!
Chad Gasket wrote:Maybe you should ask this guy for a sales commission . ...
I always like to tell folks about honest repairmen, they're hard to find!
Chad Gasket wrote:...How come you aren't using him for your engine rebuild? Just curious...
Main reason is because of all the work I want to do in the engine bay and on the accessories/brackets. It's labor intensive and would cost a lot. Plus the engine shop Certified Auto uses is just a normal place and I wanted my engine rebuilt by a old-school guru, not someone making minimum wage and is right out of high school. The engine rebuild he estimates will be around $4K. I'm having the engine rebuilt buy the owner, Ronnie Groff. He's been building engines since '69. He has a complete machine shop, doesn't have to have anything done off site. His address is: 1433 Bandera Rd, San Antonio, TX 78228 (210) 433-0627. If you call him tell him I sent you. He's real personable, if you stop by his shop he'll show you around and talk your ear off.
Wonder if he would be a better choice to do my engine work than the other guy you mentioned - for the same reason?
Ronnie Groff only works on engines that are taken out of the car - Certified Auto does the in car work.
Thanks man, I am gonna take it out and wind it up and see what happens. By the looks probably if we get ice tonight I will hold off. Don't wanna be a 3 ton bullet that can't stop. So yeah, thanks for the low down on your mechanic. I'm going to see what he can do for the Lincoln.
. I am going down to see him sometime this week myself to find out how we can handle the logistics of my 64's leaks and repairs. I've talked to you about before. I'm going to have him go ahead and change the timing sprockets and chain while in there. Might even go for water pump and oil pump while it's apart.
